Over three quarters of renters in Ireland do not believe they will ever be homeowners, newly released data from the CSO has revealed. 

The statistics body has published Ireland 2022: The Year in Numbers – Part 1 Society & Environment and the data within it has revealed how pessimistic many renters are about their future prospects. 

“The renting sector is still a difficult world for people,” Jill O'Mahony, a Sociology Lecturer at Waterford Institute of Technology, told The Hard Shoulder.

“Three-quarters of those who lived in rented accommodation said that they felt like they would never be able to own their own home. 

“I think that’s certainly a recurring theme over the last couple of years and is quite problematic for young people coming through college and going into the working world.” 

K2DCM7 Housing on the Dunquin landscape, Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland, Europe. September 2015.

Starkly, one in 10 renters said they were unable to afford to buy new clothes for their children - compared with only 1% of people who own their own home. 

In a separate Pulse Survey, 43% of renters said they would consider emigrating to lower their cost of living - rising to 57% of those adults under the age of 30. 

An overwhelming 94% of people said they had made cutbacks in response to the cost of living crisis; 62% had reduced their consumption of utilities such as heating and electricity, while 49% were buying less food. 

In addition, 29% of adults between 18 and 29 were worried they would not be able to afford to start a family. 

However, it was not all doom and gloom. 

AMJWF0 Newly constructed detached family homes houses in housing estate development in Mullingar County Westmeath Ireland. For sale.

“People who were working were actually quite satisfied with their jobs - which is great to hear,” Ms O'Mahony continued. 

“I think part of that is due to the fact that over COVID, employers were striving to become more versatile, more amenable to a different type of working approach. 

“People were working from home, people were doing the hybrid model - spending half their week at home, half of it in the office. 

“And that’s a leftover reality since COVID - that’s certainly a positive.”

Main image: Apartment buildings on the north wall of Dublin's Docklands in July 2009. Picture by: Radharc Images / Alamy Stock Photo